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If all went right, we welcomed an almost six month old baby boy into our family yesterday (more on all that later). Having him and his country in my heart, I wanted to share the following with you.
Africa has fiercely resonated with me now for almost two decades. It so resonated with me as an undergraduate that I designed a major in Africana Studies. As life would have it, the continent will now factor even more prominently in my life. As I prepare to parent and love a baby boy whose ancestry and ethnicity are African, I want to be the best possible steward in developing his love and knowledge of his country and continent. Recently, I learned about an effort to support Africa in a very personal way and I signed us up– inspired by and in honor of our boy.
The Mocha Club’s vision is to provide a way for people who don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to make a difference in Africa. We do this through a community-based website where members can start a team and invite friends to join them in giving $7 a month – the cost of 2 mochas – to support a project in Africa.
I’ve started a team specifically to provide orphan care in Africa.
The details of the orphan care project: HIV/AIDS and disease have taken the lives of so many parents in Africa, and that has left orphans for us to care for. First of all, we provide the children with proper shelter and nutrition. Then, we will make sure they are getting a proper education. But this is only the beginning, as our goal is to develop these children into future leaders in their own communities. Take, for example, Felix (pictured in the center above), who in 2003 we found sleeping on the floor of one of our elementary schools with 14 other boys. Just four years later, through our orphan program, he will be going to college to study law. This happens because your contributions equip local leaders to teach these children the life lessons they need to move productively back in to society.
I want to invite each of you to join Team Inspired. Every team member is given a t-shirt in honor of their contribution and the $7 monthly commit can be as short as 3 months. Thanks so much for considering!
